EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AS A RESOLUTION TO POOR EDUCATIONAL OUTPUT
Educational Planning
Educational planning is the process of preparing a set of decisions about the educational enterprises in such a way that the goals and purpose of education will be sufficiently realised in future with the available resources.

Educational Output
Educational outputs are the direct effects on the students in relation to their knowledge acquisition, skills, beliefs and attitudes. Ease of evaluation means that the most frequent measurements of outputs are examination results and test scores. The current use of value-added measures take into account pupils' prior attainment to provide a fairer measurement, but not social background, (contextual value-added). These statistical techniques provide estimations and indications that identify areas for greater scrutiny.

HOW EDUCATIONAL PLANNING HAS HELPED TO RESOLVE THE CHALLENGES OF POOR EDUCATIONAL OUTPUT IN NIGERIA
Critically, obviously, one could say that the quality (output) of Nigerian education has drastically dropped, including the numerous solutions that have been recommended to fix it. From improving curricula, to sacking incompetent teachers and even changing the whole approach to focus on productivity instead of examination results. The recommended solutions is what is categorically known as educational planning.

One thing is clear: Over the past few decades, a lot is left to be desired with the output of Nigerian educational system – its graduates (overall educational output).
One don’t even have to go as far as comparing WAEC or JAMB pass-fail rates over the years. A significant look is taken at the educational output. The goal of a formal education is to churn out a well-rounded individual who at the bare minimum is fluent in writing, comprehending and speaking the language (English in this case), with sound numeracy and logical reasoning skills. Additional desirable traits would be a capacity to solve problems and create a positive impact in return on the society.

Unfortunately, many Nigerian degree holders, having passed through secondary and tertiary institutions, still fail to meet up to this standards. In fact, it has been suggested that a lot of tertiary degree holders of today are comparable to first school certificate degree holders of the past years.

The problematic scenario above which is related to a failing educational output could only be qualified through the implementation of a quality educational plan. In no particular order, these are some of the main areas in which educational planning influenced Nigerian educational output in great educational systems:

1. Making provision for man power requirements: Smart schools focuses on teachers. It has been demonstrated that teacher quality affects a child’s education by as much as 70%. This means that not only does the teacher have to be academically sound, they should be trained in education i.e passing on their knowledge and they should ideally be motivated individuals with a passion for the occupation.
2. Ensuring proper allocation of resources: According to Dr. Oby Ezekwesili: "When I was the Minister of Education, we discovered that the more the funding for education, the less the success rate by students. That shows the issue was not funding." In some private schools where funds are more readily available, they still fail to invest in the right teaching aids and tools that will actually impact learning in this 21st century. A lot more can still be done when it comes to subsidizing the cost of education for schools' infrastructures (equipments and facilities), e.g. overcrowded classrooms, lack of laboratory equipment or even basic writing materials in some rural schools hinder quality learning and resources must be invested into these schools for them to be successful.
3. Accelerating the development of education in responding to the needs and goals of the society: In relation with the curriculum, some subjects simply do not reflect the times that we live in. A qualitative educational plan brews up a high quality curriculum which is one that meets the present needs of a society and equips the student for further life and work in that society. With the way the world is going, there definitely need to be a further plan for making a revised curriculum that scraps some less important areas and emphasise skills like STEAM thinking, project based learning, and other innovative areas.

REFERENCES:
Adams O.E. (2019). A Handbook for Effective Educational Supervision and Planning. Benin City: Masega Publisher

Ada Okoli (2018). FlexiSAF: Quality Education, Standards & the Factors Involved. Retrieved on the 7th of May, 2019 from: https://blogs.flexisaf.com/quality-education-in-nigeria/

National College for Teaching and Leadership. Understanding inputs, outputs and outcomes. Retrieved on the 3rd of May, 2019 from: https://www.nationalcollege.org.uk/transfer/open/adsbm-phase-5-module-5-managing-strategic-finances/adsbm-p5m5-s3/adsbm-p5m5-s3t2_M.html